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Research: United Methodist Clergy Age Trends

Why Young Elders are Important
by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

 Are Young Elders Disappearing?

There has been a dramatic drop in the number and percentage of United Methodist elders under the age of 35 in the last twenty years. The number of elders under 35 declined from 3,219 in 1985 to 850 in 2005. Young elders as a percentage of all elders dropped from 15.05% in 1985 to only 4.69% in 2005. For example, the annual conference with the highest percentage of young elders today has 10%, still five percent below where the whole denomination was just twenty years ago. This report documents the declining number of United Methodist elders under age thirty-five over the past twenty years.

Younger Clergy Leadership Needed to Reach Emerging Generations

The leadership base of declining organizations gets smaller and smaller, and they fail to attract quality young leaders. So just at the time when the organization needs its best leaders in greatest numbers, the base of new and quality leadership tends to be smallest. The issue of enlisting younger quality clergy must be seen side by side with the quality and vitality of the church itself. The church’s overall health is the most important factor determining who comes into ordained ministry. Organizations tend to get the leadership they deserve, not the leadership they need. Any questions or concerns about the quality of leadership must be directed at the church itself – why the church in this particular era allows so many to ignore the call of God.

Leander Keck links the enlistment dilemma directly to the condition of the church itself. "The impression is abroad," he contends, "that the church does not welcome strength since it is more a place to find a support group than a channel for energy and talent, more a place where the bruised find solace than where the strong find companions and challenge.” (The Church Confident, Abingdon, 93) He goes on to say that he is not looking for "Jesus-jocks and wheeler-dealers," but rather acknowledging "the churches have the opportunity to nurture the kind of persons that society needs to lead its institutions including the churches themselves" (93-94).

Retooled Clergy Leadership Needed to Reach Emerging Generations

Enlisting younger clergy is only part of what is needed to reach younger generations. All clergy, including older clergy, need enhanced training to meet the needs of emerging generations. As a pastor out of seminary twenty years put it, “In seminary we said we were going to change the world. Now, the world has changed without our help and we are struggling to come to grips with those changes.” The pastor went on to say that many of the needs and issues he is called upon to address regularly were not even on the horizon when he was in seminary.

Reinhold Niebuhr reminds us of the difficulty of the task. “It is no easy task to build up the faith of one generation,” he wrote as a young Detroit pastor in 1921, “and not destroy the supports of the religion of the other.” Today’s clergy live in such a tension.

In The Multigenerational Congregation (Alban, 2002), Gil Rendle captures the dilemma faced by countless clergy seeking to reach a younger generations who see the world in fundamentally different ways than the older generation already in the church. Effective church leaders have to contend with the worldviews of multiple generations together. How many pastors have worked diligently to reach more young people, only to receive criticism from congregational leaders? Church leadership in the multigenerational congregation requires finding new ways to address the real generational differences that are present.

Lovett H. Weems, Jr., is distinguished professor of church leadership and director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.


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Summary of Findings

 Elders

  • The percentage of young elders (under 35) dropped dramatically from 15.05 % to 4.69%.
  • While the total number of elders has fallen since 1985, the drop in young elders has been much greater, from 3,219 to 850.
  • The decline in young elders has been significantly greater than the decline in church membership, number of churches, and number of pastoral charges.
    • The ratio of young elders to membership went from 1:2,900 to 1:9,500.
    • The ratio of young elders to churches went from 1:12 to 1:41 .
    • The ratio of young elders to pastoral charges went from 1:8 to 1:31 .
  • Despite an overall increase in population, the U.S. population aged 25-34 (the age range of young elders) has declined; but the decline in young elders has been much greater. The ratio of young elders to the population aged 25-34 went from 1:13,000 to 1:47,000.
  • The proportion of elders aged 55 and above has increased from 27% to 41%.
  • The median age of elders (half older, half younger) has increased from 48 to 52.
  • The average age of elders has increased from 46.8 to 51.5.
  • The mode age among elders (single age most represented) in 2005 was 58, the age of the first Baby Boomers to become elders.
  • The Southeastern Jurisdiction has the most young elders – 42% of the total. The ratio of young elders to the population aged 25-34 is 1:24,000 in this jurisdiction, compared to 1:47,000 overall.
  • The conference with the highest percentage of young elders is the Holston Conference with 10%. This percentage, however, is still 5% less than the denominational average in 1985.
  • There is a higher percentage of women among young elders than in older age categories, although women are significantly represented across the age groups. Women make up 31% of elders under 35, 25% of elders 35-54, and 23% of elders 55 and older.
  • No comparisons by racial groups were possible, since the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits does not keep records of clergy by race.
  • Comparisons with other mainline denominations show a similar trend of fewer young clergy.

Deacons  

  • Ordained United Methodist deacons as we have now are relatively new, so identifying age trends over the past twenty years was not possible.
  • Seventy percent of young deacons are in the Southeastern and South Central Jurisdictions.
  • There is a higher percentage of men among young deacons than in other age categories, although there is also a significant percentage of male deacons age 35 to 54. Men make up 34% of under 35 deacons, 32% of deacons 35-54, and 17% of deacons 55 and older.

Local Pastors  

  • Local pastors are traditionally older than elders. For example, the Discipline calls for local pastors seeking probationary membership and commissioning to have “reached forty years of age.” ¶324.6a (2004)
  • Young local pastors increased from 130 to 371 between 1985 and 2005. Because the total number of local pastors also grew during that period, the percentage increase was not so dramatic – from 3.42% to 5.69%.
  • The increase in the percentage of young local pastors came between 1985 and 1995. For the past ten years, the percentage has stayed about the same.
  • There are more women among the older local pastors than among young local pastors, although women are significantly represented in all age categories. Women make up 25% of under 35 local pastors, 29% of local pastors 35-54, and 31% of those 55 and older.
  • The median, average, and mode ages of local pastors are virtually the same as elders.

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Description of the Project

Purpose of the Project
The purpose of this research project is to identify clergy age trends, particularly among elders, in the United Methodist Church over the last twenty years so that denominational leaders will have the data for planning and a baseline for monitoring future changes. The project originated from a concern that the age of United Methodist clergy is getting disproportionately older than the population the church seeks to reach.


Background of the Project
Clergy ages are not easy to track because few units of the church have up-to-date age information on clergy. The one exception is the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits. The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary has worked with the Board to determine age trends for United Methodist clergy.

The project covers elders, deacons, and local pastors in the five jurisdictional conferences of the United Methodist Church . The primary focus of the project is the increasing age of elders, but some comparable information was also gathered on deacons and local pastors. Ordained deacons as we have now in the United Methodist Church are relatively new, making trend comparisons over many years difficult, but we do report current age data.

To have comparable figures across the years for elders, the figures include not only those who have been ordained elder but also those who have been commissioned on the elder track but not yet ordained. While not all clergy are in the denominational pension system, most are and the percentage not in the system tends to stay the same across the years, thus making trend comparisons possible. Available data on clergy age trends in other denominations have been included to facilitate comparisons, as have certain data on age segments in the general population. Since the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits does not keep records of clergy by race, we were not able to comparisons by racial groups.

Support for the Project
 The G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC conducted this research project in cooperation with the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of The United Methodist Church. Funding for the project came from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. through its Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Initiative and from donors to the Lewis Center for Church Leadership.

Study Contributors
 Lovett H. Weems, Jr., distinguished professor of church leadership and founding director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, was project director. Ann A. Michel, associate director of the Lewis Center , and Joe Arnold, executive assistant for the Lewis Center, were associate directors of the project. Shenandoah Gale was a research assistant, and April Giannini was the report designer.

Barbara Boigegrain, general secretary of the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church, and the staff of the Board, particularly Anne Borish and Peter Doheny, provided essential cooperation and data. Staff from several denominations graciously gave their time and data to the report.

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Source of United Methodist Clergy Age Data
The United Methodist clergy age statistics in this report are prepared by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary from data provided by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church of "active participants." Active participant means that the person is active in clergy service, therefore excluding statuses such as retired, sabbatical, leave of absence, maternity leave, disability, or administrative location. Those who have been commissioned on the elder track but not yet ordained are included.